Jordan and Italy signed on Wednesday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on aid for the kingdom’s economic development and reform program, reported the official Jordanian news agency Petra.

According to a statement from the Italian embassy, Italy will contribute a soft loan of roughly US$10 million at 0.5 percent interest to the reform program launched by the Jordanian government with the assistance of the IMF, the World Bank and the European Union.

The program, said Petra, is to support the balance of payments and economic reforms, with the purpose of increasing national exports, enhancing local and foreign investments and improving the private sector's productive structure.

The loan will also be used to finance equipment, technology transfer and technical training programs for the public and the private sectors, and will be managed by the Central Bank of Jordan, said the agency – Albawaba.com